#fun with echoes!

[breakfastteatime]

Today's story is for the anon who requested 'Talk to me':

Cere will never say it to Cal, but it is surreal watching him sink into an echo. Maybe plummet would be a better word. It’s not the little ones that consume him; those he can tune into the same way he listens to music while someone else is talking to him. No, it’s the big ones that temporarily erase his grasp on the present, his own existence and perceptions temporarily overwritten.

And it’s Cere’s fault. She didn’t think. He’s still recovering from Nur, unable to join her and Merrin on Dathomir. Merrin thought it would be as good a place as any to lay low for a while, and with Cal laid up and Cere reconnecting to the Force, she’d decided to explore the Zeffo tomb for herself. She’d found an old relic – a tiny depiction of the Zeffo sage Kujet – and taken it back to the ship. She’d handed it to Cal and lost him immediately. Thankfully he’d been sat in the lounge, reading from a datapad.

At least Cere caught the datapad before it hit the ground.

It's been an entire minute now, and Cal shows no signs of emerging. BD-1 looks up at Cere, whimpering with concern. If BD’s worried, maybe Cere should be too. BD’s been at Cal’s side for more of these than anyone else, so he knows best.

And then Cal cries out in a language Cere doesn’t know and returns to the present with an awful howl of pain. The artifact falls from his hand. He falls forward, sweating, shuddering and dry retching. Cere doesn’t risk touching him, not yet. Instead, she projects a sense of peace and calm she doesn’t entirely feel.

He grunts, hand coming up to protect his chest. He’s too distracted, caught between two time periods, to shield, and his pain rings out for Cere to catch and deflect.

“Hold on,” she tells him, getting to her feet. “I’ll get you something for that.”

Cere hurries to the med kit and digs out one of their better painkillers. Cal’s told her before that the stronger the echo, the worse the backlash. He’s in enough pain already; he doesn’t need to endure more.

When she turns back to the lounge, Cal is still hunched over, but he now has one hand resting on BD’s head. He’s breathing slowly and carefully, eyes closed, lips pressed together. He’s deathly pale, a sheen of sweat clinging to him.

“Cal?” Cere calls quietly.

“Mmm, here,” he murmurs.

“I’m going to give you a painkiller.” It is not optional.

He hums in agreement and allows Cere to deliver the hypo. It gets to work quickly, and Cal is soon on his feet, swaying, and determinedly aiming himself at the engine room. His shielding, while not great, is better than before, but Cere knows him well enough now to know he is overwhelmed and upset.

“I’m so sorry,” she says.

“It’s fine,” he says in a tone that says it definitely isn’t. Not that he’s angry with her. No, it’s that whatever he saw left him completely horrified. He presses a hand to his head, pushing his hair back. “I’m fine.”

“You’re a fine liar,” Cere says gently. She stands, hovering nearby in case his legs give out. “Talk to me, Cal. What did you see?” She doesn’t want him to linger on something nightmarish.

“No.” His voice cracks. She watches him massage his forehead, hears the tension in his voice. “Not now.”

“Okay,” she says, keeping her voice low. “BD, go on ahead and turn off all the lights.”

BD takes off and Cal slowly ambles after him. Once he’s gone, Cere closes the door to the back half of the ship, then crouches down and plucks the offending object off the ground. She hears footsteps and sees Greez and Merrin boarding the ship. Cere hushes them before they can loudly announce whatever explorations they got up to, even though she’s curious to know how well Greez got over his fear of the entire planet.

“What’s wrong?” Greez asks.

Cere puts the tiny Zeffo statuette on the table.

Greez gets it immediately. “Oh no.”

Merrin takes slightly longer. “He had a vision,” she surmises.

“An echo, yes,” Cere says. “It was not a good one.”

They all resolve to keep quiet. Dathomir is not a loud place, not anymore, and the sun is well on its way to setting when Cere senses Cal awakening. She waits until she’s sure he’s awake and comfortable, then heads to the engine room and knocks gently on the doorframe. Cal looks over at her, as does BD, who’s sat at Cal’s side. He’s not as pale as before, and the tension and pain has faded.

“How are you feeling?” she asks.

“Better,” he says. “Sorry. With a migraine like that I had to be in a dark room, otherwise it would’ve been messy..”

“It’s fine,” Cere says. “I’m sorry for not thinking it through before handing you the statuette.”

“Don’t worry,” Cal says. “It’s not the first or the last time that’s gonna happen.” He takes a deep breath and pulls himself into a seated position. Cere takes it as her cue to join him on his bed, placing her hand between them. He rests his over it, and squeezes back when she closes her fingers around his. “It was a memento carved by a loved one, held by someone desperately trying to resist Kujet’s will. Kujet was mad with power, consumed with paranoia, saw everyone and everything as a threat to his reign. The Zeffonian who carved it held it as they died, smothered and suffocated by Kujet. They… they were assaulted, their mind torn to shreds by nightmarish hallucinations as their lungs filled with ash.” He holds Cere’s hand tighter. “And it all felt like it happened to me.”

He doesn’t need her to tell him it didn’t, he’s safe, Kujet can’t hurt him now. BD beeps softly, planting himself on Cal’s lap. Cal smiles at his friend, then leans over, head resting on Cere’s shoulder. “I’m okay now,” he says.

“It’s alright if you aren’t,” Cere replies.

“I am,” Cal says with a certainty spoiled by a yawn. “Ow.” He presses a hand to his chest. “This is getting old,” he grumbles. “I should meditate,” he mumbles through another yawn.

Cere gives his hair a ruffle. “Alright,” she says. “Take as long as you need. And BD?”

BD beeps eagerly.

“Come and get me if Cal falls asleep again.”

Chuckling in his funny, buzzy way, BD promises to do exactly that.

“Rude.” Cal sits up and releases her hand. “Cere? It wasn’t your fault. I’m always going to sense echoes. That’s just the way I am.”

“I know,” she says, standing. “And you know you can always talk to me about any of them. You don’t need to keep it all in anymore.”

“Thanks, Cere.”

And with that, Cere leaves him to meditate.

[joshuamj]

Okay, but what if EoW!Zelda had to impersonate Link

[mroddmod]

at ease, boys.

[verflares]

new link design goes crazy

[theecholegend]

He's out for blood (or for salt grilled gourmet meat)

[b4adb4tcher]

One of my favorite things about Crosshair is that while he is a silent caretaker and a protector he is first and foremost a hater. He is ALWAYS willing to provoke people that even mildly activate his guard dog senses and he is also the first one to call his people on their bullshit. Almost every gif we have of him really truly smiling he is actively antagonizing someone, making fun of his family, or chuckling because his family got his ass back and I think thats beautiful. More hater - protector dichotomies need to be portrayed in media.

[hexcia]

listen. rope acrobatics. you agree.

also theyre here

[misstoodles-doodles]

Safe & Sound 💙

I just really wanted someone to give Echo a blanket so why not let it be Rex

Closeups T-T:

Bonus Doodle:

[tinkerbitch69]

My favourite part of dot and bubble (besides ncuti’s performance in the last scene my god!!!) is that the episode kinda misleads you into thinking Lindy is so dismissive of the doctor and the disappearance of others because of the social media echo chamber she has isolated herself in. That she is scared to leave it and that she could be a better more empathetic person if given the chance to leave.

But then the final scene happens!

All of her actions, from putting Ricky in the firing line before her to lying about it to refusing the help of the doctor because of her thinly veiled racist beliefs, reveal that this refusal to acknowledge the reality around her to the point of putting people in danger and inevitably allowing the problem to become worse was a choice. She was not some innocent victim of media manipulation but had complete agency in her denial of the danger others were and just didn’t care about them.

The reveal is an important part of the episodes critique of social media echo chambers, I think. Their danger isn’t that they obscure information that challenges the users but that they allow people to choose not to be confronted with information that challenges their worldview or their behaviour. Which is an experience vital to developing critical thinking skills and being a compassionate, empathetic human being. But by removing the agency of people who choose not to break from their bubble, we also enable the insularity of these echo chambers!

God I love this episode so much <3_<3

[gaylactic-fire]

Y'all: Because we can't physically go up to an enemy and press A to stab Nintendo are obviously trying to suggest Zelda is too dainty and feminine for combat

Nintendo: Here is Zelda killing things with a rock. Here is Zelda killing things while riding a giant beyblade. Here is Zelda killing things by using twisted clones of their fallen brethren. We have invented many new ways to kill

[eggdrawsthings]

Tech and Echo military era from @devinsisland's apocalypse AU

[figofswords]

something something echoes of wisdom but instead of plastic it was toon. ok bye

[joshuamj]

Its almost time for something new..!

[mroddmod]

tried the blind color palette challenge a few times with some suggested characters :))

[blackseafoam]

✨.✌🏽.✨

[kayberrie]

We are not just numbers. We are men.